Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: recurve shooter on May 10, 2010, 10:45:34 pm
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ok i started this thing thursday. hickory board, cow rawhide backing. im not sure about the length, excited about getting this post up and forgot to check it lol. anyway i was hopeing for fifty pounds, sixty if everything went just perfectly. this is what i ended up with. i cant beleive it worked this well, i didnt serriously screw anything up, atleast not that i have seen yet. help me out on the tiller, not to sure on it. one of the limbs looks kinda iffy to me, need some more seasoned eyes on it.
oh, and as for the draw weight, i used the old tilering stick on the bathroom scale method. i checked my 55 pound glass bow to make sure it was fairly accurate, then went to the hickory. according to the scale, its somewhere between 75 and 80 pounds at 28 inches. hopefully this thing will have enough power to take a deer, lol. i still got to finish it and everything, i just got it to shoot twice today, and put it down before anything bad had the chance to happen. please give me some feedback, good, bad, dont care, just let me know what yall think. up untill this point im proud as a peacock. ;D ;D ;D
ok in person i didnt see the way that right limb looks goofy, but i see it on here. what do yall think?
(http://i786.photobucket.com/albums/yy146/ikillgarfish/007-3.jpg)
here are the best full draws i have. pawpaw has an issue with getting the top limb tip in the pic lol.
(http://i786.photobucket.com/albums/yy146/ikillgarfish/005-7.jpg)
(http://i786.photobucket.com/albums/yy146/ikillgarfish/004-8.jpg)
takeing some set. i cant figure out how to avoid that. :-\
(http://i786.photobucket.com/albums/yy146/ikillgarfish/008-4.jpg)
this is looking down on the back of the bow.
(http://i786.photobucket.com/albums/yy146/ikillgarfish/009-3.jpg)
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ok yup. looking at these pics i got to fix the mid limb of one of them. crud. didnt want to loose any draw weight. >:(
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You're right about that top limb.I'd fix that tiller and be carefull not to take too much off the outer part. It's not far from hinging. And scrape a little from midlimb also. You should be able to fix it and still hit your target weight. Oh, pull your pants up. ;)
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What Eddie said...and be carefull...just a few Scrapes and bend it...don't overdo...and end up hinging it....and do ya need a Belt?? I do Leather Work...... ;D
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75-80 rightnow? you should have more than enough power to take a deer from 500 feet away! not really, but like everyone said, careful with the upper limb, looks hingy
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i have a belt, lol, just aint got no butt for it to catch on. ::)
i'll work on it tomorrow after school. mostly mid limb on the bad one, then get he other one to bend to match it right? thanks guys.
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yup, lower limb looks good to me.
i bet your feeling like me when i finished my first board bow. i couldnt believe it didnt blow apart. and its still shooting.
now, the next three, i got too comfortable. 2nd, its just ugly, has a slight hinge, but i stopped
3rd, trying for a short 60inch bow, and i took too much thickness off, and its only like 25lbs! haha
4th, was a nice pyramid bow, but once again, took too much thickness off for some reason, and it was light. so i cut some length off and when i went to string it, BAM i broke the bottom limb off.
oh well, ive got a couple shooting bows right now, so im happy! haha
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lol ive made a couple but most of them i either try to get to much weight and break it, or be really carefull with it and end up with like a 35 pound bow lol
hopefully i can get that limb bending right and still keep it around 60 pounds. ;D
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Glad to see it in shooting condition. One of these days I'm gonna have to park you in the "moaning chair" in the shop and have you watch me make a bow.....and not let you make one till you see it done.
What are you using for a string?
piper
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not gunna argue with you there Mr. Kieth. im useing that string i had tied around me at your house the other day. just shot it two or three times, then put it away. gotta work on it alot more tonight.
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good luck finishing her up - congrats on getting such a strong hunting bow on an early effort - that's hard to do
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Look at it this way. If it can survive with a wonky limb then if you just even it out a tad it will be bomb proof.
Just a tad off that flat spot mid limb and a whisker nearer the handle as it looks a bit stiff there should even it up nicely before it starts to chrysal at those tight bends.
The right limb is almost 3 straight sections... just take a few strokes of a fine rasp to the middle of each flat section (Theny you'll end up with 6 straight sections! >:D )
You'll probably only drop a couple of pounds max, and it will look better and be a lot safer for that day when you decide to pull it back another inch :o
Del
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You need a tillering gizmo to prevent the hingy spots.
Here is how to use one.
USING THE TILLERING GIZMO
After floor tillering your bow, bend the bow slightly on your tillering tree or tillering stick using the long string. Retract the pencil in the Gizmo and run the wood block up the bow’s belly and find the widest gap. Screw the pencil in the block to a point it is almost touching the bow’s belly at the point where you found the widest gap. I change the angle the pencil has been sharpened to a very short angle and sand the tip of the pencil flat for the best results in marking the limb. This lets you work very slight bends.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v181/ekrewson/bow%20making/adjustinggizmo.jpg)
Initially I set my gizmo pencil about 1/8” off the limb for the first few corrections. This course setting will mark only the stiffest spots. If you set the pencil too closely for your first few passes it will mark the whole limb.
Run the Gizmo up the belly making sure it is centered on the limb. The
pencil will mark non bending areas that need wood removed. Always check the entire limb with the gizmo every time you use it and scrape wood from all the stiff spots at the same time, not one stiff spot at a time. Start on the long string, continue at brace and up to about 20” of draw. You do need to have a way to hold your bow string while you mark the limbs with the Gizmo.
I often set my gizmo for one limb and use this setting on the opposite limb as well. This way you will end up with two closely matched limbs.
I have holes in my tillering tree and insert a 3” piece of dowel in one of the holes to hold the string with the limbs slightly bent while I mark the limbs with the gizmo.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v181/ekrewson/bow%20making/tilleringtotheshortstring5.jpg)
Go slowly, no more than ten scrapes on the marked areas of the limb, flex the limb 30 times and recheck. I have found it usually takes 5 or more check, scrape and check sessions to get a stiff spot moving so be patient. You can get the limb bending perfectly this way. You will still have to eyeball bending in the fades but the rest of the limb will be perfectly tillered. Hinges will be a thing of the past.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v181/ekrewson/newgizmopic2.jpg)
Make a few passes with the gizmo on your limb and the areas that need attention will be perfectly obvious. You can fine tune the tillering by closing the gap between the pencil and limb to almost nothing. At this point I like to use a cheap orbital sander to remove both wood and any tool marks that are left. With course sand paper, the sander will leave tiny swirls in the wood so I like 220 grit for my final tillering work with the sander and follow with a light hand sanding.
The gizmo doesn’t work in the fade out area of the riser so you will have to eyeball the bend in this area or put a flat board across the back of the bow in your tillering tree and watch the gap between the back of the bow and the board to see where the limb is bending.
Tillering that once took me hours to get close takes me about 45 minutes with the Gizmo and the end result is close to perfect.
Remember the key thing to remember for proper tillering is using a scraper or sand paper and work slowly, only scrape off your pencil marks, flex the bow and recheck. I often make a zig-zag pencil mark from one side of the limb to the other over the gizmo’s pencil mark to make sure I remove equally from one edge of the limb to the other.
If you ever get the urge to grab a course rasp or use a belt sander to speed things up even more, take a coffee break and come back when these thoughts have passed.
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Congratulations! That is great accomplishment. Come back with more pics when you cox that limb. Jawge
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thanks alot guys. Eric, thanks a ton man. lotsa helpfull info there. deffinitly good to know.
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I can see the part that is too thick in the left limb in the unbraced photo. Eric's gizmo would help a lot.
Jim Davis
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Recurve shooter thats too bad Ive had it happen to me many times having limb issues. Would u consider backing it with something just to build up the thin spot and giving it some poundage? Maybe it was said already or the option is out but thats just my thought. Have a good day!
Russ
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i already put a rawhide backing on it, so i dont think i can put anything els on it. just gunna have to work on it till i get it right and be more carefull and try to get a heavyer one next time.